7mm Rem Mag or 30-06?

[Blackhawkdc]

Here's my position. I'm currently in the process of ordering a new rifle. I have already decided which rifle to get. I'm going to purchase a new Savage 116FHSAK. That is the synthetic stocked, stainless steel long action rifle with a muzzle brake(selectible).

Here's my dilema though. I'm tossed up between either 7mm Remington Magnum, or the Springfield 30.06 load. What are some pros and cons to both cartridges? Recoil, Accuracy, availabilty, cost (I'll be reloading). Any other attributes? Here's the use I'll have the rifle for. The main use will be Whitetail Deer hunting in Minnesota here. But I also want to be able to use it for moose, elk, bear and also still be able to practice with it at the range.

Both rounds seem to have a good selection of choices for bullets. the .30 cal having a slight advantage. From what I've seen, the 7mm has a slightly flatter trajectory and a little longer range.

What are people's thoughts between these two rounds? Please don't just say one round or the other. I'd like some actual reasons.

Thanks!

Seth Petro

 

[MrDig]

No question about it the 7mm has better Ballistic Coefficients than 30.06. If you reload you will be able to tweak the 30.06 to get effictive range out of it, that is comparable to the 7mm. The opposite end of that argument is that the 7mm when tweaked will far out shoot the 30.06.
I like 30.06 and like to shoot it so I would get the 30.06. But it really is a Ford Chevy discussion, and boils down to preferance.

 

[Father Knows Best]

Either of those cartridges is serious overkill for whitetails, but on the low end of acceptable for moose, elk and bear (depending on what kind of bear). I'm not generally a fan of compromise cartridges. If you don't have any elk, moose or bear hunts planned right now, focus on getting a great deer rifle (30-30, .243, .270 and 6.5x55 are my favorites), and buy yourself a more powerful rifle if and when you schedule a trip to go after something bigger.

 

[killzone]

7mm STW

 

[trainwreck100]

I voted 7 mag, but I'm going to repeal that and say 300 Win. Mag. That's the real one...but I shoot a .30-06, I inherited it (old Remington 700BDL, NIB) so it's what I've got, and no, it's not overkill for whitetail, but I think it would be plenty effective on heavier game also if your shooting silvertips. No doubt 300 Mag is a good deal bigger though.

Greg

 

[Shawnee]

Hi Balckhawk...

Do yourself a HUGE favor and buy the Savage rifle in 7mm-08.

Local opinions may vary.

 

[Lambo119]

I voted for the 7mm. 30-06 will be more forgiving to the pocket book. But you said you wanted to hunt moose and the 7mm is the lesser of two evils only because it is a belted magnum. In my opinion its still to light for moose.

 

[USSR]

What are some pros and cons to both cartridges? Recoil, Accuracy, availabilty, cost (I'll be reloading). Any other attributes? Here's the use I'll have the rifle for. The main use will be Whitetail Deer hunting in Minnesota here. But I also want to be able to use it for moose, elk, bear and also still be able to practice with it at the range.

Since you will be reloading, there are no cons to the .30-06.

.30-06 pro's: Quality brass available (Lapua, Norma), a wider range of quality bullets, no stupid case belt to deal with.

7mm Rem Mag con's: Quality brass not available, stupid belt on the case, shorter barrel life.

Either one will work for the purposes you have described, I just feel that since you have a modern action and are a reloader, you can load the .30-06 up to it's potential and give away nothing to the 7mm Rem Mag. Recoil and the cost to reload will be similar, and the accuracy will be up to how good your handloading skills are.

Don

 

[AK-74me]

Since you will be reloading, there are no cons to the .30-06.

.30-06 pro's: Quality brass available (Lapua, Norma), a wider range of quality bullets, no stupid case belt to deal with.

7mm Rem Mag con's: Quality brass not available, stupid belt on the case, shorter barrel life.

Either one will work for the purposes you have described, I just feel that since you have a modern action and are a reloader, you can load the .30-06 up to it's potential and give away nothing to the 7mm Rem Mag. Recoil and the cost to reload will be similar, and the accuracy will be up to how good your handloading skills are.

Don

Don, pretty much summed it up in my opinion, when you weigh the pro's vs. cons of the two, 30.06 beats the 7mm mag. in most instances IMHO.

 

[MrDig]

Blackhawkdc, Where abouts in the Northstar, land of 10,000 lakes, and otherwise Great State of MN are you from? and where will you be hunting? Maybe some range time and such are in order. I live in the north suburban area of " da cities" so we could meet up don'tchaknow

 

[byf43]

USSR wrote:

Since you will be reloading, there are no cons to the .30-06.

.30-06 pro's: Quality brass available (Lapua, Norma), a wider range of quality bullets, no stupid case belt to deal with.

7mm Rem Mag con's: Quality brass not available, stupid belt on the case, shorter barrel life.

Either one will work for the purposes you have described, I just feel that since you have a modern action and are a reloader, you can load the .30-06 up to it's potential and give away nothing to the 7mm Rem Mag. Recoil and the cost to reload will be similar, and the accuracy will be up to how good your handloading skills are.

Don

AK-74me wrote:

Don, pretty much summed it up in my opinion, when you weigh the pro's vs. cons of the two, 30.06 beats the 7mm mag. in most instances IMHO.

Ditto. .30-'06 hands down.
Celebrate the "ought-six's" 100 year old birthday. Buy it.

Keith

 

[MRJ152]

I use a 30-06 and reload my own shells also. Without a doubt 30-06. Probably the most versatile gun you can buy from a bullet standpoint. Plenty of power for anything you want to kill especially reloading your own shells. Perfect for whitetail. I hunt PA whitetail, black bear, ect.

However you might want to look at a .308 similar to an 06 only shorter action. Pretty comparable speeds too.

 

[rbernie]

I voted 'other'. For the uses you've described, I'd either go 300 WinMag or 338 WinMag. If you remove the moose or bear, I'd suggest 270.

 

[Terrierman]

There are stacks and stacks of dead game of every description that have met their maker at the hands of a man with his .30-06. It's better for what you want due to the ability to find and load heavier bullets for the stuff on the bigger end of your list. You're not under gunned with a .30-06 for anything on this continent, including the big bears - assuming you're smart enough to pick your shots and hit where you've aimed.

And it really is a lot easier to load well for than the 7mm.

 

[Ranger 40]

The old '06 is a fine round. It will do about every thing you need for eastern hunting. If you plan to hunt western plains game it would have to be the 7MM
Rem. Mag. You can hardly beat the 7MMs when comes to reach.

 

[Lonestar.45]

I think both would work great for your intended use. If it were me though, I'd go for the 30-06, simply because of the wider variety of ammo choices and somewhat lower potential recoil depending on the ammo you choose. Also, 30-06 ammo is usually less expensive and more readily available.

 

[benelli12]

both are great cartriges, but the 7mm doesn't have the range of bullets as the 30-06, and the 30-06 has much cheaper ammo, and has plenty of power.
I love my Remington 700 30-06

 

[umc180gr]

.30/06

I sold my 7mm mag and bought a .30/06 Remington model 700 and have not looked back since. More economical to reload 06 and kicks less too. My 7mag always just seemed to beat me up. My vote is for the .30/06, over a hundred years old and still kicking whitetail butt.

 

[Schleprok62]

hmmm... 30-06 or 7mm Mag... why not just get a .280 Rem and have the best of both worlds and split the difference???

Both are very good rounds... each with their own history and reputation... as said before, it's really a matter of your own preference... which do YOU want?

 

[Hutch]

Some hunting buddies and I were planning a hunt out West, and there was talk over a beer that a flatter shooting cartridge than our customary ones was called for (ought-six (two of us), .308, and a 7mm-08). Looking at the hottest, flattest shooting loads for each of the above, and comparing that to a 7mm Mag, we made the following discovery:

It doesn't matter.

I don't have my table in front of me now, but IIRC, comparing flattest (7Mag) to least (.308), with hunting bullets, and sighted in at ~ 225 yards, the difference in drop between the 7Mag and .308 at 300yds was less than 2 inches. I don't know about y'all, but that's well within the margin of error for shooting in the field. No animal would know the difference.

All that being said to support the argument that the .30-'06 is the best, for all the reasons previously stated, plus that one of my own.

 

[Blackhawkdc]

Well, thank you all for all the advice and view points. I wasn't expecting such a good response. Definitely the best forum I've belonged to. It sounds like the 06 has the edge due to the wide variety of bullets available. I haven't made the decision yet. I'll be ordering the rifle the first part of January. I think I'm edging toward the realm of the 06. A couple reason. I already have the reloading dies for it. I've been reloading extra light loads for my father for a while so he can do some practice shooting of his Rem 700 Mountain Rifle. So there are two pros for me. I've already got the dies, and I'd be able to share ammo with my father.

So there are a couple more tid bits of info. Please continue sending advice and opinions. This is a rifle I plan to hang on to for probably the rest of my life. So I want to make a good, solid decision.

Thanks again!

Seth

 

[bowfin]

I am going to take exception to the "more choices for bullets and loads" argument for two reasons:

1. There are tons of different loads and bullets for either cartridge, the difference being one zillion for the 7mm Remington Magnum and 1.2 zillion for the .30-06. It boggles the imagination to think that you would have any lands or grooves left in the barrel after trying just a box of every factory load and a box of every good reload offered.

2. It doesn't matter if you are shooting a .30-06, 7mm Remington Magnum, or a <fill in your own cartridge here>, you can only going to send one bullet from one cartridge speeding towards that deer/bear/whatever. Once you find a great load, the number of other also rans are immaterial, whether it be two or three or 1.2 zillion.

The 7mm Remington Magnum would be my choice, but I hunt antelope also. I wouldn't bat an eye if I were limited to one or the other.

 

[redneck2]

Take 4 sheets of normal paper and stack them together. That's the difference between a 7mm and 30 cal (.284 vs .300)

Whatever critter you shoot will never know the difference.

I have a 7mm Rem. Got it for a 1,000 yard gun because the ballistics were slightly better, and "slightly" becomes "significant" at 1,000

that said, if I were you I'd probably get a 30-06 because I can walk into a hardware store in the middle of nowhere and get 30-06 rounds

actually, what I'd REALLY do is get a screaming deal on a good used rifle in whatever caliber was the cheapest and spend the difference on really good glass. I wouldn't care if it was 30-06, 308, 7 mm, .280. Doesn't mean diddly in the real world if you're a handloader.

YMMV

 

[CB900F]

Blackhawk;

Ya know, the distance card is usually the first one thrown down when a guy favors the 7mm Remington magnum over the .30-06. Personally, I don't think that card is worth as much as Monopoly money.

I've been playin' around with the .30-06 for a good long while now. Know the gun, know the load, and know what your doin' when you stroke the trigger. The .30-06 is just as capable of doin' the job out to any reasonable game-takin' distance as a 7mm anything. Let's say 500 yards, just to put a number on it.

First, get so you can pop a 1 gallon milk jug full of water at 300 yards anytime. That's about the same size as the kill zone on most N. American big game animals.

Oh, and I have taken game, one shot cold barrel, at a laser'd 470 yards, with my .30-06, 150 grain bullet, 2860 fps muzzle. Bullet went within 2" of my aim point.

900F

 

[Lobotomy Boy]

Either of those cartridges is serious overkill for whitetails,

That is only half true. We've been hunting whitetail in northwest Minnesota (up near Old Mill State Park) since my grandpa came over from Sweden about 115 years ago and have been using the .30-06 almost since it became available. This year we got 12 deer among the five of us who hunted, every last one of them taken with a .30-06, and not one of the deer was damaged from too much cartridge (my brother wasted a lot of meat on the two he shot because he was convinced he didn't need to sight in his gun, even though he put on a new scope last year, but that was his fault and not the gun's). My youngest son hunts with a .30-06 in North Dakota, where he usually takes much longer shots than we do in MN, and he got two, including a 12-point buck taken at about 250 yards. My oldest son hunts in central South Dakota, where he takes even longer shots, and he got two with his .30-06 this year. It was a new gun--he switched from the 7mm Rem Mag he's been using since he was 12-years-old because he felt that really was too much for whitetail.

A lot of us also hunt black bear with the .30-06, and we used to hunt moose before the moose herd in NW MN started to go extinct, and I've never heard of a case of that not being enough gun.

All of these things are probably true about the 7mm mag, too, but there is one other factor to consider: probably 9 out of every 10 pickups north of St. Cloud have at least one box of .30-06 shells in their glove boxes. When you get far enough away from the metro area, people become less concerned with Internet debates and ballistics and more concerned with what really works. These other calibers might be dandy, but they know the .30-06 works, and that they'll be able to get shells for it in every Ace Hardware between Coon Rapids and Winnipeg. About the only other ammo that has that kind of availability would be 12-gauge shells.